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A high school in Arlington County, Va., that became known in the 1970s as "Hippie High" is now 40 years old. H-B Woodlawn Secondary School was founded in 1971 as an experiment in alternative education, with students given the power to decide everything from teacher salaries to their own curricula. "We had to take ownership of our time; that was the key," said Jay Constantz, now 57, who was one of the first graduates of the school.

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Middle-class people in some communities are installing stoves capable of burning dried corn kernels to heat their homes. While the idea might sound like something dreamed up by "hippies living in yurts," the economic and environmental benefits of corn-burning systems give them a broad appeal, says John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat.

The Los Angeles Unified School District on Tuesday agreed to change the way it educates English-language learners and black students as part of the settlement of a federal civil rights probe. The investigation did not accuse the district of intentional bias, but was initiated last year to determine whether the students were receiving an adequate education. Under the agreement, LAUSD will focus on providing effective teachers and improving instruction for students who have learned English but often struggle later on.

Educators at the High School for Language and Innovation in New York City encourage their students, who are mostly English-language learners, to embrace a learning approach based on the Learning Cultures curriculum, developed by a professor at New York University. The approach includes a focus on "Unison Reading" sessions, in which students read aloud together and work in small groups to help each other understand lessons.

If "buy low, sell high" is the first rule of investing, real estate investing may make sense, Jeff Brown writes in the "You're the Boss" blog of The New York Times. Real estate investment trusts, mutual funds and exchange-trade funds are among the approaches he suggests.

The South African Council of Education Ministers is moving to improve school safety, following a Human Rights Commission report that found violence had reached "unacceptably high" levels in the country's schools. Violence is most prevalent on urban, secondary campuses.